After being panned by most of the nation’s critics as one of the worst DCEU movies, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom debuted with one of the worst opening weekends.

The sequel – which was being projected for a $32 million to $42 million opening, couldn’t even hit the low end of the projecions, with an estimated $28 million.

The film is estimated to take in a total of $40 million over the four-day holiday weekend, with Christmas Day falling on Monday.

Still, it’s considered one of the worst openings in DCEU history, with only The Suicide Squad ($26.2 million) and Blue Beetle ($25 million) and Wonder Woman 1984 ($16.4 million) debuting lower.

This film also marks the end of the DC Extended Universe, with James Gunn and Peter Safran’s new regime starting in 2025 with Superman: Legacy.

Aquaman 2 opened in 3,706 theaters and pulled in a decent $7,582 per-screen average for the opening weekend.

The sequel pales in comparison to its predecessor, with 2018’s Aquaman debuting to $67.8 million.

It would go on to gross $335.1 million domestic and $1.152 billion worldwide, the only DCEU movie to crack the $1 billion mark.

With such a soft opening and a budget reportedly over $200 million, the movie is likely heading towards being a colossal flop.

It did fare better in foreign markets, picking up an additional $80 million for a worldwide debut of $120 million.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom ultimately dethroned last weekend’s winner, Wonka, which slipped 54.6% into second place wih $17.7 million.

Aquaman ended up fending off a slew of newcomers in one of the last weekends of the year at the box office.

Universal’s animated comedy Migration debuted with $12.3 million from 3,761 theaters for a middling $3,273 per-screen average.

The Sony rom-com Anyone But You debuted in fourth with just $6.2 million from 3,055 theaters and for a paltry $2,040 per-screen average, with Salaar ($5.4 million, 802 theaters, $6,834 per-screen average) rounding out the op 5.

Rounding out the top 10 is The Iron Claw ($5 million, 2,774 theaters, $1,824 per-screen average), The Boy and the Heron ($3.1 million, 1,580 theaters, $1,996 per-screen average), The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes ($3.1 million, 2,509 theaters, $1,255 per-screen average), Godzilla Minus One ($2.7 million, 1,965 theaters, $1,394 per-screen average) and Poor Things ($2.1 million, 800 theaters, $2,637 per-screen average).

While the weekend is over, Christmas Day brings three new movies to theaters – The Color Purple, Ferrari and The Color Purple musical.

As the year winds down, Barbie has easily become the highest-grossing movie of 2023 with $636.2 million at the domestic boc occoe